Digital BW, The Print

Varnishing Piezo (or other) Prints, Part 3

Here is part three of my running account of testing different 
coatings or varnishes on Piezo prints. Once again please keep up with 
what Mark Romine and now David Gross are posting on the Piezo list on 
this subject.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/piezography3000

(Note that these materials and techniques should be workable on all 
types of prints so long as any inks that are water soluble or fragile 
need to be pre-sprayed with one of the various protective aerosols on 
the market such as Krylon.)

This time I worked with two varnish systems:

1. Varathane

   As a sealer:
      Varathane Diamond Wood Finish – Outdoor Gloss Spray

   As a varnish
2 parts Varathane Diamond Wood Finish – Outdoor Semi-Gloss (or Satin)
1 part water

2. Golden
   As a sealer "Morrison's Mix":
     1 part Golden Acrylic Medium Gloss
     1 part Golden GAC 700
     1 part water 
   As a varnish:
     1 part dilute Golden Acrylic Flow Release
           (1 part Release to 4 parts water)
     2 parts Golden Polymer Varnish UVLS

Trial #9

This was done on 4 sheets of Wells River aka Hahnemule Turner 190

Sheet #1 
 1 coat of Varathane Aerosol Spray Gloss 
 2 coats of Varathane Semi-Gloss

Sheet #2
 2 coats of Varathane Aerosol Spray Gloss 
 2 coats of Varathane Semi-Gloss

Sheet #3
 3 coats of Varathane Semi-Gloss

Sheet #4
 2 coast Golden sealer
 1 coat Golden Polymer Varnish Gloss

Observations:
Several people suggested that one of the aerosol sprays could be used 
as sealer coat to overcome the difficulties I was having getting an 
even first coat. Something that is critical to obtaining an even 
sheen with a minimum number of coats.

On Sheets #1 and #2 I gave this a try. It helped to some extent with 
getting a more even coat but also showed that the sprays do very 
little to seal the surface. Even with the spray coating the paper 
absorbed a great deal of liquid on the first brush coat.

After coating 30+ prints I have found that the key to the first coat 
is to apply it very heavily and to keep the entire surface wet until 
it has all been coated. Then go back over the surface with long, 
slow, gentle strokes to remove the excess. Wipe off the brush between 
strokes. This gives a nice first coat and makes the following coats 
easy.

I prefer the Turner uncoated. Its surface is too rough to look good 
coated.


Trial #10: with Museo and Torchon

Sheet #1 Museo
 3 brush coats of Varathane Semi-Gloss

Sheet #2 Torchon
 3 brush coats of Varathane Semi-Gloss

Sheet #3 Museo
 1 spray coat of Varathane Spray Gloss
 2 brush coats of Varathane Semi-Gloss

Sheet #4 Torchon
 1 spray coat of Varathane Spray Gloss
 2 brush coats of Varathane Semi-Gloss

Observations:
The unsprayed Museo print smeared a tiny bit when the first coat was 
applied. This occurred in very black portions of the print where 
there was heavy ink loading. With only a single spray coat there was 
no smearing at all.

The coated Torchon had the deepest blacks and one of the nicest tones 
on any of the papers. The unique texture of Torchon shows up strongly 
under incident light when it has been coated. Viewed straight on the 
effect is very good.

The Museo gave the best results to date. The texture seems just about 
perfect with enough tooth to play down any imperfections in the 
coating but smooth enough to mimic silver gelatin.


Trial #11 with Museo and Torchon

Sheet #1 Museo
 2 spray coats of Varathane Gloss
 2 brush coats of Varathane Semi-Gloss
 1 brush coat of Varathane Satin

Sheet #2 Torchon
 2 spray coats of Varathane Gloss
 2 brush coats of Varathane Semi-Gloss
 1 brush coat of Varathane Satin

Sheet #3 Museo
 2 spray coats of Varathane Gloss
 2 brush coats of Golden sealer
 1 brush coat of Golden Polymer Varnish Gloss

Sheet #4 Torchon
 2 brush coats of Golden sealer
 1 brush coat of Golden Polymer Varnish Gloss

Observations:
Sheets #1 and #3 are stunning!! The Golden is a bit glossier. I think 
that between these two prints I prefer the Varathane Satin top coat. 
The match to an air-dried silver print is very, very close. The 
texture of the coated paper is slightly coarser than an Oriental 
silver fiber print. If you want your prints to have that air-dried 
silver gelatin look this really does it. Much, much nicer look than 
any of the glossy papers even the Kodak Ultima Satin. None of the RC 
plastic look.

I am sure a similar level of gloss on the Museo could be achieved 
with the Golden Varnish by blending the Satin and the Gloss in the 
proper proportions. The gloss of the Varathane could also be adjusted 
in a similar manner. You can get anywhere from super RC gloss all the 
way down to a dull smooth matte.

The coated Torchon has the better black and, to my taste, ink and 
paper tone, more neutral, but the texture is too distracting. But 
some may like it though.


General Observations:

The missing key here has been finding the right paper texture. Too 
much texture and, even though you get a higher Dmax, the print starts 
to look strange. I think that papers like Turner, German Etching and 
Torchon simply have wonderful surfaces to start with and varnishing 
them detracts from the look. If you need the protection a coating 
provides, then use one of the sprays, which do protect from abrasion 
without causing any significant change in the appearance of the print.

Very smooth papers like Kodak Ultima or even Epson Archival Matte are 
so smooth that defects in the coating are revealed and tend to get 
back to the RC look. I will probably give EAM another try now that my 
coating skills are getting better. It may be possible to get an 
acceptably smooth coat down.

The "puddle pusher" came in. No directions. A rectangle of glass 
glued to a 5/8" plastic tube. Hmmm….. I think I'll pass. Any takers?

I shipped some examples of coated prints to Todd Flashner to get his 
take on the coatings. At this point I will ask him to hang on to his 
opinions until I send him some of the more recent ones, which are 
much better than what he now has. He did note that one of the Golden 
coated prints stuck a bit to the back of the print on top of it 
during mailing. The print was shipped within 48 hours of being 
coated. I think that in normal stacking this will not be a problem 
but I believe it may take two or more weeks for some of these 
varnishes to fully cure.

My next trials will be on Somerset Enhanced and the Schoellershammer 
Velvet 225 that I have on order.


Martin Wesley

on 8/7/01 11:00 PM, mwesley250@... wrote:

> After coating 30+ prints I have found that the key to the first coat
> is to apply it very heavily and to keep the entire surface wet until
> it has all been coated. Then go back over the surface with long,
> slow, gentle strokes to remove the excess. Wipe off the brush between
> strokes. This gives a nice first coat and makes the following coats
> easy.


Wow, nice report.

In defense of your technique of above, this is how a very good house painter
taught me how to paint trim. Use a small roller to apply the paint onto the
trim quickly and evenly, then use your fancy Purdy brand brush to pull a
nice grain through the paint, pulling the entire length of the trim in one
stroke for each pass.

Though I haven't really been testing coatings I had revisited EAM with the
Miniwax Polycrylic earlier this evening. I used a 6" sponge roller to apply
the coat thoroughly and evenly, followed by a high density foam brush (from
a good house paint store, the ones from home depot are too porous) to pull
the strokes through. There's some stroke marks, but no dust, and few
bubbles. Next coat I'll try the same but at 90 degrees to the first.

Good to hear about your fine results with the Museo!

Todd

Todd,

Thanks for the sponge roller idea. This will be really critical if 
you need to do large prints, even 11X14, not to mention 24Xwhatever. 
There is no way you could get that first coat on fast enough with a 
brush over a large area.

Steadman mentioned a PolarFlow brush that sounded great but I haven't 
tracked one down yet.

Martin


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Todd Flashner <tflash@e...> 
wrote:
> on 8/7/01 11:00 PM, mwesley250@e... wrote:
> 
> > After coating 30+ prints I have found that the key to the first 
coat
> > is to apply it very heavily and to keep the entire surface wet 
until
> > it has all been coated. Then go back over the surface with long,
> > slow, gentle strokes to remove the excess. Wipe off the brush 
between
> > strokes. This gives a nice first coat and makes the following 
coats
> > easy.
> 
> 
> Wow, nice report.
> 
> In defense of your technique of above, this is how a very good 
house painter
> taught me how to paint trim. Use a small roller to apply the paint 
onto the
> trim quickly and evenly, then use your fancy Purdy brand brush to 
pull a
> nice grain through the paint, pulling the entire length of the trim 
in one
> stroke for each pass.
> 
> Though I haven't really been testing coatings I had revisited EAM 
with the
> Miniwax Polycrylic earlier this evening. I used a 6" sponge roller 
to apply
> the coat thoroughly and evenly, followed by a high density foam 
brush (from
> a good house paint store, the ones from home depot are too porous) 
to pull

> the strokes through. There's some stroke marks, but no dust, and few
> bubbles. Next coat I'll try the same but at 90 degrees to the first.
> 
> Good to hear about your fine results with the Museo!
> 
> Todd

That brush is great but it is only 2" wide...still tough to coat a large area without brush strokes if your varnish is "soaking into the paper" and quickly drying.  

Silk screen kit is cheap and may be worth the effort if you are doing multiple prints.  However...as I recall....silkscreens generally leave a rather thin coat on the printed surface...

Still Loving the Matte Look, 
Steadman

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: mwesley250@... 
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2001 11:14 PM
  Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Varnishing Prints, Part 3


  Todd,

  Thanks for the sponge roller idea. This will be really critical if 
  you need to do large prints, even 11X14, not to mention 24Xwhatever. 
  There is no way you could get that first coat on fast enough with a 
  brush over a large area.

  Steadman mentioned a PolarFlow brush that sounded great but I haven't 
  tracked one down yet.

  Martin


  --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Todd Flashner <tflash@e...> 
  wrote:
  > on 8/7/01 11:00 PM, mwesley250@e... wrote:
  > 
  > > After coating 30+ prints I have found that the key to the first 
  coat
  > > is to apply it very heavily and to keep the entire surface wet 
  until
  > > it has all been coated. Then go back over the surface with long,
  > > slow, gentle strokes to remove the excess. Wipe off the brush 
  between
  > > strokes. This gives a nice first coat and makes the following 
  coats
  > > easy.
  > 
  > 
  > Wow, nice report.
  > 
  > In defense of your technique of above, this is how a very good 
  house painter
  > taught me how to paint trim. Use a small roller to apply the paint 
  onto the
  > trim quickly and evenly, then use your fancy Purdy brand brush to 
  pull a
  > nice grain through the paint, pulling the entire length of the trim 
  in one
  > stroke for each pass.
  > 
  > Though I haven't really been testing coatings I had revisited EAM 
  with the
  > Miniwax Polycrylic earlier this evening. I used a 6" sponge roller 
  to apply
  > the coat thoroughly and evenly, followed by a high density foam 
  brush (from
  > a good house paint store, the ones from home depot are too porous) 
  to pull
  > the strokes through. There's some stroke marks, but no dust, and few
  > bubbles. Next coat I'll try the same but at 90 degrees to the first.
  > 
  > Good to hear about your fine results with the Museo!
  > 
  > Todd


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